New Design: Emily and Adams Auburn Wedding

I'm back to blogging, I promise...

I have so much to share with all of you and apologize for the delay.

I am so excited about the post today because 1) I get to share another fun custom monogrammed wedding suite, and 2) I am thrilled to show the first couple of photographs from my professional photo shoot with Emily Cummings of Ten Little Bluebirds.

So, let's start with the design:
I was over the moon when Emily (a fellow Auburn lover and current vet student) asked me to design her wedding invitations. Emily was such a joy to work with, and she married one of my very dear friends big brother. What a great couple!

For her invitations, she wanted a beautiful and classic look with a custom monogram as the main decorative element. The four letter monogram took some finessing (and lots of sketching) to figure out how the letters would properly embrace each other allowing the VS of the last name to stand out without overwhelming. In my opinion we ended up with a stunning custom design. I hope Emily and Adam will continue to use their monogram forever and always remember their special day. The entire suite was printed offset in authentic Auburn Blue (WAR EAGLE!). It consisted of the invitation, a double sided rsvp postcard and a folded thank you card.

And, how great are the photographs? I so excited to have professional photos of my work. Emily's eye, photographic style and sense of lighting is exactly what I was looking for. The photographs we took together really help bring my stationery to life. I cannot wait to share more of our first shoot together, and am looking forward to our next shoot together.

New Design: Custom Monogram Embroidered Towels

I am so excited to share this project with you! For over a year, I have been searching for someone who could embroider my monograms on linens. Custom embroidery for only a few pieces can be VERY expensive, and so my search for the perfect match took a bit of time. It was very important to me to find someone who didn't cost an arm and a leg, but still had a great eye for design and attention to detail. 

Through this process, I realized how small the world is. The perfect "go-to" embroiderer for Chena Design is actually from my childhood town in Houston, Texas. Tracey from Personalize It! is absolutely incredible. We clicked instantly and I ordered the above towel immediately. 

You may recognize the monogram from Diana and Ian's wedding stationery. Because of my wild embroidery ideas poor Diana and Ian had to wait 5 months to get her wedding present. But I think they wait was worth it. The towels are stunning! It is so cool to see one of my monograms used on something so tactile and functional. Hope you enjoy!

Monograms featured on House of Marlow

Yesterday I received an email from Crissy of House of Marlowe asking if she could feature my custom monograms on her blog. Of course, my answer was YES!!!

Crissy wrote the feature this morning and it makes me smile to read it. As most of you know, I adore designing my monograms and it makes all the sketches, eraser shreds and pencil sharpening completely worth it when others show their love and appreciation for them too.

I am so honored to be a feature on her blog and can't wait to start working on her custom monogram.

BTW, I have SO many new monograms that I need to share with you!!! Hopefully I will get caught up soon.

Inspiration Overload: Color, Pets & Eleanor Grosch

I am constantly inspired by Eleanor Grosch from Just Eleanor. She has topped my list of "favorite designers" for quite some time now. When it comes down to it, her ability to use simple yet sophisticated color and shape is unexpected, creative and visually appealing. Her illustrations are filled with joy and constantly make me smile. Plus (as if we need another reason) she frequently uses animals as the main subject of her illustrations. And, let's be honest, I am a HUGE animal lover. The two photographs above are for Stir Magazine, the color and design magazine for Sherwin Williams. I adore the illustrations of the animal (through both wallpaper and textile) meeting the cute, four-legged subject in an artistic photograph. Seriously, how awesome are these? Animals in design rule!

QR Code Invitations? I'm just not sure...

via NYT

Did anyone catch the New York Times article about using QR codes on your wedding response cards? It was an absolutely fascinating article on how to blend the staunch tradition of wedding stationery with modern technology. I like the idea and concept, but am just not sure how I feel about it aesthetically. I guess I am old fashioned when it comes to stationery. On the other hand, I want to be "up on the times" so maybe it is a good thing to think about. But, QR codes are just such a bulky design element. But, Crane's, the stationery god, is going to offer them soon. Can you tell I am completely torn.

Maybe I will have a couple ask to use one in the near future. It would be a fun design challenge.

How do you feel about this topic?

Below are other stationery pieces (a valentines card and business card) that use the QR code. The business card is STUNNING! I could get behind this idea. Just think about how easy you could direct someone to your portfolio or website. Hmmm - now my wheels are churning (but I am still not sold on wedding stationery with the code).

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Starting Up: It's been one of those weeks...

...and i mean that in the best possible way. Guaranteed, I haven't had a moment to slow down and take a deep breath, but the crazy schedule, stress and abundance of work are all a REALLY good thing. Chena Design is coming into it's own in 2012! I feel so fortunate to get to do what I adore all the time (and I do mean ALL the time). It's taken a lot of hard work, moments of doubt, mistakes here and there, and a few tears to get things up and running (and I still have loads of work to do) but I am finally beginning to see all the tiny pieces of starting your own company come together. I am grateful for all the amazing clients that I get to work with, and am excited about all the new projects in the works. I tend to get so caught up in the "go go go" attitude of life that I forget to stop, look around and celebrate the little things that really matter. So, I want to thank everyone one that has helped me along this crazy, curvy path. This post goes out to my loyal and incredible clients for challenging me everyday, to my mentors, teachers and printers for constantly teaching me new things, to my family and friends for loving me even in high-stress moments, and to my three furry, four legged friends for keeping me sane, and hanging out with me in my studio in all day.

P.S. this started as a letter to explain why I haven't been blogging much, and turned into much more, so thanks for reading.

*Above is a typographic illustration by Jessica Hische, who is a constant inspiration, as she pays tribute to Doyald Young, the master of hand-written letters and another huge inspiration.

New Design: Sweet Pickins Website & Blog

Last night the new Sweet Pickins site went live, and cannot tell you how thrilled I am about the final outcome on this site. Once again, Tony from Evenpar Solutions brought in an amazing client with an inspirational sense of style and creativity. Sausha came to us with a well-thought out vision for her site. She wanted Sweet Pickins (which combines her old blog Show and Tell with her furniture boutique) to have a DIY vibe that combined a variety of textures, but still feels professional, clean and elegant. Her painted furniture is absolutely gorgeous, so it was easy to find visual inspiration for this one. I designed the logo, web buttons and the overall look for site, and Tony made all the web magic happen. Hope you enjoy this one as much as I do.

And on a slightly different note, have I ever mentioned how lucky I feel to design blogs for other creative people? First, it gives me so much internet reading material that I cannot keep up (not even close). Second, I absolutely love when two creative paths (my design and DIY blogging) merge a bit. It keeps my artistic juices flowing, gives me new inspiration daily, and keeps the giant web of internet connections growing. Sausha, thanks for being one of my newest inspirations and making me want to start painting furniture!